GEORGETOWN, Texas – The Southwestern University Pirates women's lacrosse team dropped its home opener, losing to the Hendrix Warriors 20-18 on Saturday afternoon.
Southwestern began the day celebrating the careers of seniors Madison Godleski, Gillian Glover, Julia Tape and Ronni Winter, then opened the game to four consecutive goals. Grace Maynard scored back-to-back goals in the first two minutes, taking the opening face-off and splitting defenders with a spin move, drawing a foul and converting on the free shot.
A minute late, Maynard slashed her way through the middle of the defense, finding the back of the net on an unassisted goal. Hayley Donnelly made it 3-0 on an unassisted goal and Natasha Perez-Krause found Raven Garcia for the first of her three goals—all before the Warriors managed to get a possession beyond mid-field.
Things began unraveling shortly thereafter.
The Hendrix duo of Alison Watanabe and Morgan Dasch displayed beautiful chemistry, beginning with Dasch circling behind the net and finding Watanabe cutting through the middle of the defense for the Warriors' first goal. The pair answered the Pirates' start by connecting with each other for four goals on cuts, curls, and give-and-go passes with Watanabe putting in three, sparking a run that put the Warriors up 11-8 at the break.
Dasch was in control running the Hendrix offense, picking the defense apart from behind the net and in the corners with pin-point passes for 10 assists, then slicing through on foot for six goals.
Southwestern opened the second half with two consecutive goals to pull within one at 11-10. Hayley Donnelly found Jillie Klumbach and Johnee Wolter put through an unassisted.
Watanabe created separation for the Warriors again, scoring six second-half goals as Hendrix pushed up to a 19-13 lead on an unassisted Dasch goal.
Southwestern provided a competitive response, rallying by scoring five of the last six goals with Perez-Krause connecting on three consecutive goals with Donnelly assisting on the first two.
Raven Garcia scored the last goal of the game on a free shot with 10 seconds remaining.
Donnelly led the Pirates with seven points, scoring two goals and assisting on five others. Maynard had four goals on seven shots and Perez-Krause had four on six. Hendrix was led by Dash's 16 points with Watanabe scoring nine goals.
With the loss, the Pirates drop to 1-2. Southwestern will return to action on Wednesday, Feb. 27 at 6:00 p.m. against Augustana.